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About Mark

I have always been interested in things that go fast, like airplanes and trains. However, it took me until my late 20’s to discover that the world’s fastest and most versatile devices didn’t have wheels.

My background in English, history, and French makes me somewhat unusual in the technology writing field, but it gives me a big advantage when it comes to helping ordinary people understand how the Internet, PCs, servers, and digital cameras work. I stay up to date by reading technology blogs, newsletters and websites, and experimenting on “FrankenPC” and my office network.

Although I’ve been contributing to books since 1999, I cut my technology writing teeth in the mid-1980s. Do you remember the Commodore 64 and its inscrutable 1541 floppy disk drive manual? My first piece of tech writing crunched down the essentials an ordinary user needed to know to get programs running to a single page. A few years later, exasperated with salespeople who kept selling PC clone configurations the techs in the back room could never get to work right, I wrote a compatibility handbook for my employer, a computer store. In the meantime, I spent a lot of time talking users through configuring startup files with DOS’s ghastly Edlin line editor and discovering the brave new world of desktop publishing and scalable fonts.

I turned that expertise into a new part-time career as a magazine writer, first for WordPerfect Magazine (1989-1995), and later for Sandhills Publishing (1991-2001). Check out the article database available at http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/asearch.asp (use Soper as the search term and specify the date range).

In the meantime, I provided consulting and training services to area businesses, and, starting in 1992, spent most of the rest of the decade traveling the US and teaching classes on computer troubleshooting, workgroup networking, and other subjects. I also wrote three book-length training manuals in 1992-1993. Before email was common, I often submitted magazine stories by bringing my laptop computer and portable printer to the nearest UPS or FedEx drop box, hand-feeding the printer and hoping that the pick-up time shown on the box was accurate!

Beginning in early 1999, I made the decision to become a full-time writer, cheering my wife and children (who area also big technology users) by getting off the road. I teamed up with Scott Mueller, dean of computer hardware books, to help get Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 11th Edition, wrapped up on schedule. I have contributed to every edition since, and have also co-authored six books with Scott.

I also teamed up with TechTV to write two books on computer upgrades, paired up with radio and TV tech guru Leo Laporte for a book on computer troubleshooting, and written several other books on the Internet, home networking, troubleshooting, and digital photography (see my Books page for details). I have written two books on Windows Vista, including MaximumPC Guide to Windows Vista Exposedand my newest book, Unleashing Microsoft Windows Vista Media Center, which will be published in early November 2008.

I have also worked with Windows gurus Robert Cowart and Brian Knittel as a contributor to their Special Edition Using Windows XP and Windows Vista books, and with Brian and Scott Mueller as a contributor to the new Upgrading and Repairing Windows 2nd Edition.

I am currently finishing up my third book on A+ Certification, and have just started a new book project (watch this page for updates).

In 2004-2006, I wrote over 450 step-by-step illustrated online tutorials for Skywire Software on topics ranging from Microsoft Word and Norton Antivirus to PC hardware upgrades and video/image editing and developed a new method for working with web templates for faster authoring.

From 2004 to the present, I’ve also been a freelance author for MaximumPC magazine covering topics such as BIOS tuning, RAM types, Windows users and Linux, and Windows Vista, with some of my articles finding a second life in the books The Maximum PC Guide to Building a Dream PC and The MaximumPC Ultimate PC Performance Guide. My most recent Maximum PC articles appeared in the May and July 2008 issues of MaximumPC. If you missed them, enjoy them in PDF form by visiting the MaximumPCwebsite. I also blog several times a week on Windows, security, and other issues for the website.

To keep my finger on the pulse of PC users, I also teach classes on A+ Certification, digital imaging, and other subjects for the Evansville campus of IvyTech Community College of Indiana (www.ivytech.edu/evansville/). If you have questions about my books or other projects, or are looking for a versatile technology writer, trainer, and consultant with an impressive body of work, please drop me a line.

The book by Mark Edward Soper is a very good tutorial on Windows 7. I did find one error that has caused me to be called out on a number of repair calls.

On page 79, Mark stated in step 1 to “Connect the printer to a USB port on your computer.” This is the error.

In the HP printer steup for most of the multi functional printers that I deal with state in the first step, after putting the printer together from the shipping box, “Windows: Install software forst. DO NOT connect the USB cableuntil prompted.”

Step 1 should have read to check with the printer installation instructions and connect the USB cable per those instructions.

To correct this error in installation, the printer must be removed, the printer must be uninstalled and the computer must be rebooted. Only then can the HP instructions be initiated. Failing to do this will result in a second failed install.

Other than this one page, I have found little else lacking in the book.

Mark: I purchased the Comp TIA A+ Cert Guide today. I had sticker shock and was contemplating returning it. It was pouring rain, so I sat in my truck for a few minutes and scanned the opening pages… I decided to keep the book primarily because I appreciate your acknowledgment of God in your opening sentence. Good work! I believe that He is the source of all existence and accordingly all knowledge. Thank you!
Matt Humphrey

Hello Mark, my name is Robert and I want to start a career in IT. I currently have my A + certification and am going after my Network +. I wanted to ask why does it seem so hard to break into the field. Most places I have tried to apply for always asks for at least 1 to 2 years of experience. How would I be able to cut my teeth in this field if no place, not even these small repair shops will give me a chance? I would appreciate any advice you can give. Thank you